


Just Rose

by thesometimeswarrior



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: (sort of), Angst, Canon Compliant, Character Study, Ficlet, Hurt/Comfort, Power Imbalance, Pre-Canon, Spoilers for Episode: s05e18 A Single Pale Rose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-23 05:35:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15599427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesometimeswarrior/pseuds/thesometimeswarrior
Summary: “Those are orders, Pearl!”Pearl freezes on her knee for a moment, taken aback, eyes wide. It’s simple, and in some ways, it’s even a return to normalcy after the madness of the past thousand years or so—and especially after the tragedy of the past few days. She supposes that that should be its own kind of relief. But it’s not. And instead, there’s a sinking feeling in her Gem that’s like disappointment, that she would callbetrayalhad it come from anyone else.(Rose slips up. Pearl can't talk about it.)





	Just Rose

It happens simply enough, in those awful, lonely days after the Corrupting Light, when the three of them that are left are all on edge. And later, Pearl won’t be sure whether she meant to alleviate Pin—that is, _Rose’s_ —suffering with a display of reverence that she’d been built to think that those who own Pearls want, or whether she’d been trying to cling to some semblance of normality in this world that she’d wanted, but which is anything but normal and definitely still doesn’t make any sense. Which makes even less sense now.

Pi— _Rose_ sits alone on a rock outside the Temple, head buried in her hands, eyes wet. She doesn’t look up as Pearl approaches, but inhales in acknowledgement. And when she speaks, her voice is etched with the anger that Pearl has heard from her several times in her thousands of years of service. “How could they _do_ it?! Blue and Yellow. And it wasn’t even just us, either! They corrupted so many Gems that were loyal to _them_! It’s so _cruel_!”

“I know.” Pearl kneels in front of her. “I’m so sorry, my Quartz.”

“And _you_!” Rose’s eyes snap up. “You keep doing this!”

“Doing what, my Qua—”

“Treating me like this! Kneeling, calling me _my Quartz_! Quartzes don’t have Pearls, Pearl!”

“I—”

“It’s a miracle that none of the others have figured it out! Who I am—or who I _was_ —the way you’ve been acting! Talking like this. Trying to get yourself _shattered_ for me!”

“My Quartz—”

“No! No more of this! No more risking your destruction for me! We— _I_ have lost too many Gems already!”

“But—”

“No buts! Stop trying to get yourself shattered for me! And don’t call me _my Quartz_ anymore. Just _Rose_ , or _Rose Quartz_ if you must, but none of these _my_ s.”

“But, my—”

“Those are orders, Pearl!”

Pearl freezes on her knee for a moment, taken aback, eyes wide. It’s simple, and in some ways, it’s even a return to normalcy after the madness of the past thousand years or so, and especially after the tragedy of the past few days. She supposes that that should be its own kind of relief. But it’s not. And instead, there’s a sinking feeling in her Gem that’s like disappointment, that she would call _betrayal_ had it come from anyone else.

( _Your status…my purpose_ , she had said. _None of it will matter anymore_. And Pink Diamond had agreed.)

( _We’ll both finally be free_ , Pink Diamond had promised.)

( _My last order to you as a Diamond_ , Pink Diamond had said.) 

Finally, Pearl bows her head. “Of course, m—mmmm!”

Her eyes widen again, this time in alarm, when she finds her lips stuck together. And then the realization strikes her like a punch to the Gemstone. Whatever they may call each other and themselves, whatever forms they may take, however closely they keep it secret, the truth remains: Rose is a Diamond. And she is her Pearl. It is physically impossible for her to disobey her orders. 

“Oh, Pearl! I’m so sorry! I didn’t think…” Rose’s demeanor changes entirely, eyes softer, voice cracking, as she moves from the rock to kneel in front of Pearl.

“ _Rose Quartz!_ ” Pearl finally manages to burst out. “Of course, Rose Quartz. Is what I was going to say.”

“Pearl, I didn’t mean to…Here I am, telling you not to treat me like a Diamond, but then I go and…I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright.” And she means it. And on some level, some level that Rose has taught her to see within herself, she knows that she shouldn’t. That she should be furious because it isn’t _fair_. It isn’t _fair_ that a Diamond can say whatever she wants and a Pearl _has_ to obey, it isn’t _fair_ that she was built only to serve, it isn’t _fair_ that Rose promised that that order had been her last and then broke her word, and it isn’t _fair_ that she's taken away the one thing that Pearl still had left: the ability to _choose_ to lay her life down for Rose. _Why won’t you just let me do this for you?!_

She should be furious, should scream, but when she looks at her Diamond, her Quartz, her _Rose_ , at the new tears welling up in her eyes, at the tenderness in her face, something in Pearl melts. (And there is a part of her—one deep in her Gem, that she dare not acknowledge—that wonders if this, what she feels for Rose, is just another result of the purpose for which she was built. Something that ensures, even renegade as she’s gone, even if she's turned her back on Homeworld and the colonization and the Kindergarten and their entire society, that she still fulfill her primary purpose: protect her Diamond. Keep her Diamond happy. But she feels it all the same. And it’s _real._ ) “Really, Rose. It’s fine.”

“I didn’t mean to take it out on you…I just…I can’t _stand_ what Yellow and Blue _did_ to all of them!”

“I know. It’s awful.”

“What do we do?”

It’s not an order, but that doesn’t make a difference. Pearl imagines anyway. It’s easy, this time. “We take care of them the best we can.”

Rose nods, smiles a watery smile as she reaches for Pearl’s hand, whispers: “My Pearl…”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! I love comments!


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